


Because There Are No Others

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Coulson loves Skye, F/M, Grant Ward is evil and manipulative, Kissing, New SHIELD, Season 2, Skye loves Coulson, Speculation, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-16
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-17 16:50:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2316641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feels about the Season 2 promo stuff. All speculation.  Ward is evil.  Title from Radiohead's "All I Need".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Because There Are No Others

“I need your personal advice like I need a hole in the head…oh, _wait_ , you actually tried that.”

“I wasn’t shooting at you,” he said carefully. “I was aiming for Coulson.”

“And that makes me feel _so_ much better…”

“When I said I would never hurt you, I meant it.”

“You have a disturbing definition of ‘hurt’, then.  Because crossing off everyone I love?”

“Do you?”

She let the question hang in the air.  There was no point in answering him, it was just going to give him more room to maneuver.  Any little thing that she gave him so far had been twisted and thrown back at her.

One thing that she had realized was that Ward was much more complicated than she had figured.  And not in a pleasant way.  Even being in the room with him now, feeling his eyes at her back, made her skin crawl.

“All I wanted, was to protect you from him,” Ward continued when it was clear she wasn’t taking the bait. “My mission was Coulson, _not_ you, _not_ the team.”

“We’ve been over this, that’s not why I’m here.”

“I’ll repeat it endlessly, Skye, until you realize it’s true.”

He said it in such a sincere and casual tone.  Like this was just like any of their conversations before.  Before she had found out he was a disgusting traitor, before he had threatened her.

“I wasn’t the only one concerned,” he added. “May, she also felt…”

“Shut up,” Skye said, cutting him off, spinning around towards him.

“His obsession with you…,” Ward tossed out, his eyebrows drawn upward in sympathy. “To keep you close.  He _needs_ you.”

She shut her eyes and turned away from him again.

“Your abilities.  He gave you the GH-325 to tie you to him.  And that’s what’s happened, hasn’t it?”

“We’re done here,” she said, nodding at the guard through the double-paned glass and heading for the door.

***

Skye sat in her room at their new base, a former SSR bunker. 

It was a soldier’s room, and that’s all. 

That’s what she was now.

She picked up the hula girl balancing on the sidetable near her bed and flicked its skirt, watched her dance.

Just like Ward was doing with her.

He knew that Creel would bring her to him.  This was just an elaborate setup. She was never underestimating him again.

In anger, she swiped the object off the table with the back of her hand, only raising her head at the sudden knock on her door.

“What?!” she yelled.

“Can I come in?”

It was Coulson.

The one person she wanted to see and didn’t want to see at the same time.

She scooped the hula girl off the floor and put it down on the table, crossing her arms as he let himself in.

“Skye.”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Wanted to check in.”

“I didn’t get your answers,” she said, agitated.   Frustrated.

“That’s not why I came,” he replied softly.

Glancing up she saw him with his sleeves rolled up, his jacket and tie gone, hands in his pockets.

There was a dark smudge on his arm.

“What did _you_ get into?” she asked dryly.

“Was helping Mack out.  Try to get Lola back in shape,” he said, shrugging slightly.

“So you decided to take a break, while I was having a chit-chat with Red Skull, Jr.?” she said, looking offended.

“I needed the distraction,” he replied, swallowing.

“What did he say to you?”  

“He was trying to manipulate me,” she said, sitting down on her bunk.  “Turn me against you.  And May.”

Looking down at her, she could see the wheels turning before he went on.

“How so?”

“He said May told him, that she was _concerned_ about your growing obsession...”

A distraught look flickered over his face.

“With you...,” he finished.

“That…he wanted to protect me from you, that giving me the GH-325 was you keeping me close. To have my abilities at your disposal.”

“I see.”

He motioned to the space next to her, and she scooted over reluctantly as he sat down there.

She could smell the mixture of grease and his aftershave with him this close, painfully realizing it had been awhile since she’d been this near to him.

“I know that it's not true,” she said, glancing up.  “That it's poison to listen to him. We were both looking for answers.   _Still_ looking for answers.”

“But,” he said, when she hesitated.

“What is this between us, Coulson? That our own team is talking about us behind our backs?  That Ward tried to use it against you?”

“He’s messing with your head, Skye.  We talked about this, his methods.”

“ _No_ ,” she cut him off, refusing to let him change the subject.  “I’ve barely seen you, and when I look at you, like I am right now, I can see you trying to control everything.”

He leaned away from her slightly, let out a shuddering breath.

Skye couldn’t help but smirk, he was the one who had sat down right next to her, after all.

“This is my fault,” he said, staring forward towards the door, nodding his head as though he had arrived at a decision.

“Ward said that you did all of this because you need me.”

“I _do_ need you,” he said, after a moment.

“There is no version of this I've imagined without you in it.”

When he looked up at her, she could see his weariness, the mask he had been wearing was coming down.

“SHIELD might have crawled out of the ashes without you, but, it wouldn't mean what it does to me now.  Whatever Ward said to you, it's a lie or some kind of half-truth.  He's a monster who wraps himself in lies as a comfort, a protection. But not you. You see the good in people.”

“Then why are you locking yourself away?”

“I don’t know how to do this.  I don’t know how Fury did it, Skye.  I thought I needed to clear my head, that I’d gain some perspective. And that little black box has a lot of stuff in it.”

“You promised you wouldn’t try to do this on your own,” she started in.

“I haven’t.  _I promise_ , Skye, I haven’t, but the parts that are mine, I just…They require something.  Something more than what I had before," he said, his eyebrows knotting together.

"It doesn’t leave any room.”

“Why are you here, then?” she shrugged.

“Because it didn’t feel good sending you in there.  And, I wanted to say, I’m sorry.”

“If you didn’t think I could handle it, you wouldn’t have sent me in.  And if I wanted to refuse, you know I would have,” she warned him. 

“Yes.  And I’m also here, because...I need you.”

Her eyes narrowed at him slightly as he bit his lower lip.

“Like I said, this is my fault.  For leaving this ambiguous. I’d like to do better.”

He slid his hand over hers, his thumb brushing against her wrist as a flush rose in her cheeks.

“You saw the good in me, _still_ see the good in me, no matter what. And you stood between the part of me holding onto the lies woven into SHIELD and the person I want to be.”

“I _don’t_ want you to go back to that,” she said.

“And I love you for that, Skye. Thank you.”

She put her other hand over his, drawing a smile out of him.

“So, what now?” she asked, the corner of her mouth turning up at the look behind his eyes.

“I’ll follow your lead,” he breathed out, smirking at her. “But, I have a few ideas where that might end up.”

“Not so good at hiding that, am I?” she said, with a growing smile, leaning towards him, her hand tracing up the top of his thigh as he inhaled, sitting up straighter.

“You do wear your heart on your face,” he managed.

“Yes,” she agreed, taking advantage of this newfound freedom to slide her hands up the front of his shirt as he watched her expression change into one of exploration, curiosity, sweeping over his arms, and then slowly undoing a few more buttons, her hand slipping into his shirt, pulling a groan out of him, fingers sifting through the hair on his chest.

“Phil,” she said, her thumb tracing along his lower lip, eyes looking into his. Like she was claiming it.

He met her the rest of the way and pressed his mouth against hers, hushing her name out before kissing her full of his own desire and hauling her all at once onto his lap.

“I need you,” he growled out.

This time, she knew exactly what he meant.

 

 

 


End file.
